1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to systems and methods for obtaining health and financial information with a handheld device. More particularly, the present invention relates to utilizing a bar-code reader or RF ID reader on a handheld device to obtain real time health and financial information.
2. Background of the Invention and Related Art
Two of the major problems faced by individuals in industrialized nations are related to finances and health concerns. It is estimated that a large percentage of the industrialized population spends more money than they make and is medically considered extremely unhealthy. In order to overcome these problems, people conventionally create budgets and goals for both financial and health items. These budgets include how much money they are going to spend and the types of food they are going to consume. Unfortunately, very few individuals or families continue using budgets over long periods of time because they require extensive time to create and maintain.
A financial budget is conventionally created by recording all purchases in a log or a computer program. This information is then compared with income and a budget is created that enables sufficient spending without exceeding income amount. All spending must be manually entered in order to assess whether a budget is being achieved or if it is being exceeded. Even if a credit card is used for all purchases, the credit card statement does not correlate purchases into categories that are useful in a financial planning. Because of the excess time involved in recording purchases, many individuals simply estimate and often fail to adhere to their budgets.
Likewise, many people are beginning to create health budgets in which they determine optimum nutritional levels in which to consume. The nutritional levels include calories, fat, sugar, carbohydrates, protein, etc. In order to assess whether the health budget is maintained, an individual must manually enter all of the food they consume. Therefore, people eventually rarely maintain health budgets for long periods of time. There is also a strong psychological stigma that labels nutritional records as extreme measures that should only be practiced by severely unhealthy individuals.
Accordingly, there is a need in the industry for a system that enables financial and health information to be obtained and recorded in an efficient manner that facilitates easier financial and health budgeting.